by Priscilla Mitchell with various illustrators
Some friends of mine over at the Midwest Creation Fellowship not only told me about this book, they loaned me their library’s copy. In fact, a number of families in Illinois have been signing up with their group just to have access to their large creation collection including a number of kids’ resources. You might want to check it out for yourself!
[Note: at the moment the webmistress there is working to develop a better catalog system, but their resources are still worth checking into.]
Have you ever read the Christian Mother Goose books? The gentle rhyming poetry and mostly pencil drawings in Seeds reminded me of that style.
For the most part I enjoyed this book. It’s fast paced and well written, Mitchell knows how to do poetry well, and gives young children a taste for the amazing world God created.
The book is divided into a number of chapters, or mini-books, mostly covering a particular animal or plant. First we have a high flying view of all kinds of “seeds” throughout creation. Last we have a sort of introduction to how babies develop.
At first I found it odd to tie humans into the “seed” concept, but, after all, this is the way medical terminology refers to our starting cells. Even the Bible calls children “seed”. So, I stopped worrying about it!
The biggest draw back I found with this book is the varying quality of the illustrations. Some of them are lovely, some of them look like a child drew them, or worse, someone who was just learning to use computer graphics put them together.
The “God’s Awesome Computers” is a little misleading. Although the opening overview chapter mentions computers a couple times, there is no attempt to show why she used that analogy (which would have been great for older kids). In fact, a number of concepts she uses in that first chapter left me scratching my head. Is she talking about eggs, seeds, or adult creatures? All the author’s unspoken assumptions were driving me crazy.
I liked the five middle chapters far better. They focused just on things like dolphins or pine trees and were much less confusing. In fact, my logical mind was able to relax enough to just enjoy the consistently excellent flow of the rhyme and appreciate these poems as tributes to God’s handiwork on their own.
If you have young kids or grandkids around. It wouldn’t hurt to get a copy of this book for them. Reading a chapter in the evening can be a delightful way to relax and help them appreciate poetry, nature, and God all at once. Of course, seeing the practically free prices on Amazon doesn’t hurt, either.
I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. Psalm 9:1
